The Real Deal Miami

Harvard close to selling $1.6B in RE assets

From TRD New York: Harvard University will soon sell off its real estate, private equity and venture capital assets as part of a plan to shed more than $2 billion worth of holdings from its endowment.

The company that handles the university’s $35.7 billion endowment, Harvard Management Company, has committed to sell the interests in real estate funds to Landmark Partners, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. The assets are worth around $1.6 billion, according to the publication.

Harvard Management is also in talks with Lexington Partners to sell stakes in venture capital and buyout funds, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, who added there may be other buyers in the deal.

The university’s portfolio has been underperforming, and these sales are part of a massive overhaul of Harvard Management. Around fifty percent of the 230-person staff at the nonprofit are being laid off, and internal hedge funds are shuttered and stakes in funds and direct holdings in natural resources are being sold.

Landmark is a private equity and real estate investment company that specializes in secondary funds, according to its website.

Over the past three years, Yeshiva University has sold several of its real estate holdings in the city, including 10 Washington Heights buildings to Ruby Schron for $72.5 million in 2014, and a two-building Greenwich Village complex at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law to Pebb Capital for $58 million last year. [Bloomberg] — Miriam Hall